Lieberman Finds Middle a Tricky Path

[babylonsister]

Lieberman Finds Middle a Tricky Path

By MARK LEIBOVICH
Published: July 14, 2008

snip//

At least two have asked Mr. Lieberman to tone down his rhetoric against Mr. Obama, the presumptive Democratic nominee, two colleagues said, and at least three have advised Mr. Lieberman against speaking at the Republican convention, a prospect he has said he would entertain.

Clearly, Mr. Lieberman’s already precarious marriage with the Democrats has reached a new level of discord and could be approaching divorce, if not necessarily a remarriage into the Republican Party. The strain has been rooted largely in Mr. Lieberman’s steadfast support for the Bush administration’s engagement in Iraq and his hawkish views on Iran. He has not ruled out switching parties but has stopped short of saying he has moved so far from the Democratic Party — or, in his view, the other way around — that he is at a point of no return.

“I don’t have any line that I have in my mind,” Mr. Lieberman said in an interview. “If it happened, I’d know it when I saw it.”

Mr. Lieberman was leaning back in a chair in his Senate office, wearing a loose-fitting pinstriped suit, grinning a lot and appearing quite comfortable while describing “my uncomfortable position.” He compared his predicament to the old Groucho Marx conceit, “I don’t care to belong to any club that will accept me as a member.”

As Mr. Lieberman spoke, a group of protesters not far from his office were calling for his party to oust him as chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. The organization, unsubtly named LiebermanMustGo, was delivering a petition proclaiming the same.

more...

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/14/us/politics/14lieberman.html?_r=2&ref=politics&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

[liberalmuse]

1. "The Middle"?

That man has gone completely over to the dark side.

[Dukkha]

7. walk the center of a two lane road sooner or later you'll get hit

by either side

[NV Whino]

2. He needs to be reeeeally careful

that fence is getting very narrow.

[CatWoman]

3. bye mother fucker

and good riddance!!

[Bleacher Creature]

4. Staying in Iraq forever is not the "Middle" -- it's extremist.

I know that liberalmuse made the same point, but it's worth repeating. Glenn Greenwald great when he focuses on how the traditional media takes the talking points issued from "official" Washington (i.e., the Bush Administration) on Iraq and foreign policy in general and somehow conflates that to be the "middle," whereby anyone who opposes the war (even if it represents the view of 3/4 of the country) is merely on the fringe.

[mbritton]

5. Poor, Poor Lieberman!!!

He just does not know when he has crossed the threshold. He
needs to be told that he isn't a Dem anymore. He should just
come out of the republican closet

[zbdent]

6. "could be approaching divorce"???

Lieberman served the papers!!! How is he not divorced from the Democratic Party?

Now, he's just going over to the Dem side for the "ex-sex" ...

[SoCalDem]

8. Enjoy yourself, Joe..for a few more months..

then you're done.. I actually look for him to not even run again.. His last 2 years will not be fun at all :)

[Warpy]

9. He's been in DC too long and no longer has an idea

where the middle actually is. He's trying to find a middle between the Blue Dogs and the far right lunatic fringe. That's not anywhere near the middle in the rest of the country.

He needs to be turned out of office and reeducated by the peasants...